House price growth slows but could be boosted by tax reform

Chris Papadopoullos was City A.M.'s economics reporter until February 2016.

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Chris Papadopoullos

THE HOUSE price boom continued to cool in November, data from a UK mortgage provider shows.

House prices climbed 8.2 per cent year-on-year in November, down from 8.8 per cent in October, figures released yesterday by Halifax show.

Although still high, year-on-year house price growth has fallen for the past four months after peaking at 10.2 per cent in July. Growth over the past three months dropped to 0.7 per cent from 0.9 per cent in October. This has also slowed each month since July when it reached a high of 3.5 per cent.

Recent tax changes may stunt the slowdown. “Stamp duty changes should hopefully have a positive effect on the lower end of the market and first-time buyers particularly, said Alex Gosling, director of online estate agents housesimple.co.uk.